LG City Council Talks Budget, Grants

The La Grange City Council met Monday night, Sept. 9, and unanimously approved the budget for next year.

Expenses in the general fund came in at $5,942,816, up from $5,656,050 this year, a roughly five percent increase. Expenses in the utility fund will be $11,480,300. That’s down $740,938 from this year, a 6.1 percent decrease.

City Manager Jack Thompson said the savings in the utility fund was due to the City paying off a massive expense – the recent wireless utility meter upgrade project.

Council also approved the first reading of an ordinance setting the property tax rate for the City at $0.18022 per $100 of taxable value. That’s a slight decrease from last year’s rate of $0.18668. Even with the lower rate, the City will collect $43,319 more in revenue due to rising property values - from $890.500 to $933,819, or 4.8 percent The average homestead value in the City went from $172,406 in 2023 to $194,451 in 2024, a 12.7 percent increase. The property tax on an average homestead went from $321.85 in 2023 to $350.44 in 2024, an 8.8 percent increase.

Property taxes make up a small percentage of the City’s overall revenue. Most of the City’s revenue comes from the utility departments (about $11.48 million) and sales tax (more than $1.8 million).

Oktoberfest and Main Street Appointments

 In other business, Council approved street closures for Oktoberfest on the Square, set for Saturday, Oct. 5. They also approved two appointments to the City’s Main Street Advisory Board. The two new board members are Coy Heinrich, sales manager at Le Petite Gourmet Shoppe and youth representative Ella Nygren, a junior at La Grange High School.

Tourism Grants

In addition, the Council approved five requests for tourism grant funding as recommended by the City’s Tourism Grant Committee. Those five grants are as follows:

• $10,000 to the Fayette County Fair Association for promotion of the 2024 Fayette County Fair;

• $5,000 to the Rotary Club of La Grange for advertising and promotion of Oktoberfest on the Square, set for Oct. 5;

• $8,000 to the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center for marketing the 2024 Heritage Fest and Muziky, set for Oct. 18-19;

• $5,000 to Friends of Kreische Brewery and Monument Hill for advertising and promotion of the 2024 Trail of Lights, set for Dec. 13-22; and

• $5,000 to the Texas Quilt Museum for marketing of museum events and children’s program for the period of Oct. 1-Dec. 31.